A major Jewish organization slammed President Joe Biden for not minding his own advice and speaking out against antisemitism in his State of the Union address.
B’nai B’rith International, which touts itself as “the global voice for the Jewish community”, released a statement signed by the nonprofit’s president Seth J. Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, saying it was “surprised and disappointed the president did not address the growing threat of anti-Semitism across the United States”. The statement focused on two practical points:
“We call on the administration to fulfill its promise to codify the principles contained in the 2019 White House Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism. Doing so would greatly strengthen the effort to fight anti-Semitism in schools and on campuses.
“We renew our call for a domestic anti-Semitism czar, as a counterpoint to U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Deborah Lipstadt, whose portfolio is international in scope. B’nai B’rith has raised this several times early in the administration, but Oct. 7 has elevated the stakes.”
It should be noted that in April 2023, Biden wrote a pre-Passover editorial in CNN in which he cited Anti-Defamation League statistics showing that in 2022, antisemitic incidents in America reached their highest levels on record. Claiming that the Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville in 2017 motivated him to run for President, Biden titled the article, “To fight antisemitism, we must remember, speak out and act”.
Biden seems to have forgotten that message, which is all the more pity as antisemitism has surged under his leadership.
Biden also used the State of the Union Address as a platform to castigate Israel in its war on Hamas. While more than a dozen family members of American hostages in Gaza were sitting in the House gallery, the address included a milk toast call to return the Israeli hostages with the president saying that he “will not rest until we bring your loved ones home.”
The president also called for a ceasefire in a manner that directly contradicted that pledge.
The duplicity was noted by Bnai Brith.
“While the president noted ‘Israel has a right to go after Hamas,’ we were surprised and disappointed the president did not address the growing threat of anti-Semitism across the United States,” the statement from the organization read. “Hamas must not be allowed to rearm under any ceasefire agreement. Israel must be able to continue its mission to remove Hamas from control of Gaza. As long as Hamas remains in power, there can be no security for Israel and no peace for the region.”
“We call for the immediate release of all 134 remaining hostages held by Hamas. It is despicable there are still babies, children, women and men held as hostages, 153 days after Hamas terrorists abducted them. It is imperative that Hamas is eliminated as a military force, and the world community must ensure Hamas has no future role in Gaza.”
Biden also called on Israeli leaders to accept a “two-state solution” that would create an unprecedented Arab state inside Israel’s borders that has been ethnically cleansed of Jews, with its capital in an exclusively Muslim Jerusalem. This proposal has been firmly rejected by all Palestinian leaders as it would require them to claim to accept the existence of a Jewish state.
Despite the clear success of the Abraham Accords, Biden claimed the creation fo a Palestinian state similar to Gaza is also the only path “that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors”.
The subject of Israel was divisive though not partisan. Before the speech began, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) passed out stickers with “153” written on them, representing the number of days the hostages have been in captivity in Gaza. Around 60 lawmakers on the Democratic side wore the stickers.
At least a dozen on both the Republican and Democratic sides also donned yellow ribbon pins, another symbol for the hostages. Hostage families distributed a pin and a “bring them home now” dog tag to every congressional office and asked the members to wear them.
On the opposing side, a few members of the Democratic party “Squad” — Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Summer Lee, and Ilhan Omar — wore keffiyehs, the traditional Arfab headcovering that has been culturally appropriated to represent anti-Israel terrorism. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Tlaib wore Palestinian flag pins.
As Biden spoke about the Hamas attack on Israel and the situation in Gaza, Tlaib, Bush, Lee, Pressley and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) brandished paddles calling for a “lasting ceasefire now,” while Omar displayed one reading “stop sending bombs.”
